Photogenic Memories
by SnowLeopardPawz
Summary: A photograph can tell 1,000 words. One-shot!


**Author's Note: **At the request of rollerfan222, I've decided to do a one-shot of Alex and Elle. It was actually pretty fun, writing these one-shots, even though they are difficult. Well, I hope you enjoy. Sorry that this one is a little short. I haven't written fanfic in years so I hope this turns out well.

* * *

"What's this picture of?" A smooth tiny hand held the delicate photography carefully, centimeters from her face.

Alex Shepherd took it from here, glanced at it and broke out into a huge smile. "Oh wow, this sure is an old one," he explained, still smiling at the content of the photography. It was pretty worn out, but one could still see the picture clearly. He flipped it over, examining the date, then fell back into his seat, sighing.

"This was the summer that Elle and I turned eleven, so our younger siblings, Nora and Joshua, were two at the time. Everyday, the weather was always the same that summer: sunny and warm with the perfect breeze."

* * *

_Alex and Elle decided to have a picnic one day with Joshua and Nora. While Joshua was happily sitting on the floor, silently sipping his sippy cup, Nora screamed and whined, "Secret place! We go secret place!"_

"_Alex…" Elle breathed. She sighed as she tried desperately comb a rowdy little Nora's hair. "Just hold still and let me- No! No hitting!" The little princess would scream and thrash about- she just really hated having her hair combed. Surprisingly, she calmed down, thus giving Elle a chance to continue speaking to Alex. "It seems that Nora really wants to go to the island. Can we please go?"_

_Alex chuckled, putting a new shirt on his half-awake brother. Josh was dozing off as he was drinking and Alex knew the rest. That boy needed a bath bad. Alex looked over at Elle and said, "Of course. Anything to please the all-mighty Nora." Alex shot a goofy face at Nora, who just stared at blinked every now and then. "I swear, no matter how hard I try, Nora does not like me at all." After a quiet chuckle, he looked down at Joshua, who was quietly snoring and being inspected by their small dog Shuki. "Yeah we can go. I'm sure Joshua won't mind."_

"_Hey! I have an idea!" Elle quickly placed the small shows on Nora and admired her work. "We can finally have that picnic we always talked about- we can have it on the island. Sound good?"_

"_Sounds amazing."_

* * *

_Packing the picnic basket was actually difficult to do, as well as actually leaving for the picnic. Every item of food they planned to take, Joshua and Nora were constantly watching them… and they had to watch them to make sure they didn't eat everything. Some items didn't even make it in the basket. They just kept eating everything! Even with the baby gates, the two tots could easily climb over- all for the love of food. Instead of being mad, Alex and Elle thought it was cute. They would exchange glances with the occasional blush as they worked silently together. _

_The second obstacle was Elle putting Nora in the time-out chair for being bad. In order to distract them and keep them from eating all the food, Alex gave them a bowl full of fresh pineapple. Now, everyone in Shepherd's Glen knew that pineapple was Nora's most favorite fruit. She refused to eat any other fruit. Joshua on the other hand, would just eat anything that was given to him. At times, Elle wished that her little sister were easy like Joshua. It happened to be one of those times- when, to everyone's dismay, Joshua ate the last piece of pineapple, and Nora watched in horror. She went into a furious tot rage and shrieked as she wailed on poor little Joshua with her small arms. She managed to whack him right on the nose when Elle pulled Nora away, preparing her for the time-out chair as she scolded Nora._

_Third obstacle: Alex getting yelled at by his father, once again. Elle and Nora watched in fear from afar as an infuriated Adam Shepherd screamed at Alex while holding a crying Joshua. After shouting at him for a good five minutes, he slapped Alex hard across the face as punishment for not watching Joshua well enough and that he was a disappointment as a big brother. Before the tears could fall down his face, Alex turned around and ran upstairs. Adam sighed and tried to calm Joshua and turned to Elle and Nora. He gave one stern look at Elle before walking away into the living room._

_And last but not least, the final obstacle was trying to get Alex to come out of his room and leave for the picnic. Adam watched the kids downstairs while Elle slowly walked upstairs to try to calm her best friend down. She knocked once. No answer. She tried knocking again. Nothing. She wanted to call out to him, but for some reason could not find her voice. Her own eyes began to fill up with tears as she replayed the fight that happened just moments ago. Elle felt extremely guilty for not speaking up earlier. It was just that… Mr. Shepherd was _so terrifying. _Still, she should have said something. _I'm so sorry, Alex…

_She knocked again, pressing the side of her face on the door, trying to listen to what Alex was doing. She heard nothing. Sighing, Elle turned and began to walk away; looks like the picnic would have to wait. Before she reached the steps however, the door to Alex's room opened, followed by a loud creak._

* * *

"_It wasn't your fault. I should have been watching Nora," Elle spoke softly, sitting on the bottom bunk while Alex stayed in the top bunk, laying under the covers._

"_I know but he blames me anyway! I can't see why he thinks I'm a bad person!" There was a small moment of silence before Alex continued with a somber tone, "He _hates _me."_

"_Alex, no… He doesn't hate you. He just… has a hard time showing it." She bit her lip, hoping Alex would agree. But in the bottom of her gut, she knew where this was going. _

"_Well when I hear him talking to Joshua, he always tells him how much he loves him and that he's the best thing that's ever happened to me. He's _never _said anything like that to me. I actually don't remember a time where my dad told me he loved him. Can you explain that, Elle? Can you?"_

_Neither spoke until Alex got out of bed, put on his shows and headed for the door. Defeated, he quietly said, "C'mon. Let's go."_

* * *

_The land behind the giant lake was huge and that didn't even begin to describe it. Stuffed with lush green grasses and hundreds of tall trees, from the lake sprouted out two streams going into the forest. Traveling through it, they both poured into a pond that harbored a small shady island that was easily accessibly by a bridge. It order to get to the island (or as Nora called it, the "secret place"), Alex and Elle had to use the trail. It was much easier and faster to use the trail but way more fun to walk off of it, and dash into an adventure. Unfortunately they couldn't do that since they brought their siblings along. Still, there was not a dull moment. Nora was running ahead of Alex and Elle while the warm sun put Joshua to sleep, causing his older brother to carry him the rest of the way._

"_Nora! Don't run too far! We gotta catch up!" Elle yelled out, making Nora turn around and stare at her big sister. After a loud "NO!" Nora continued to run, only having to trip and fall. It wasn't long until she broke out crying and Elle jogged up to her with Alex following close behind._

"_She's a handful," Alex mentioned. He then looked at Joshua and after a chuckle continued with, "Come to think of it, so is Joshua. My arms are killing me!"_

"_Ugh, you're telling me! She's like this all the time, but you already knew that," Elle responded, tending to a crying Nora this time. While trying to clean her clothes, Nora screamed and began pulling Elle's hair. "Nora, no! Stop!" She managed to free her hair, but now it was all messed up. Shooting a death glare at Alex for laughing at her new 'do, she rubbed her eyes and sighed again. "Sometimes I feel like Mom. I'm always taking care of Nora while she's always at work. I love Nora but… I am so not having kids when I'm all grown up."_

_Alex laughed and readjusted his arms, making it a bit more comfortable to carry Joshua. "Now don't say that. You'd make a great mom. You're the best mom I've ever seen." Secretly, Alex meant that from the bottom of his heart. While he was getting no love and encouragement from his father, Alex lacked the tender loving care and warmth of his mother. And it killed him._

"_Aw, you really think I'd be a great mother?" Elle's eyes lit up as she looked up at him._

"_I don't think; I know. When you're all grown up and have kids, they are going to love you so much. I know that much."_

"_Alex…" Elle was beginning to turn speechless. They had these moments, every once in a while and Elle loved them. She was so lucky to have a close friend like Alex. He was the salt to her pepper, the peanut butter to her jelly. She flashed a huge smile at him and helped Nora get up, brushing off pieces of grass from her dress. After hearing a cute "thank you" from Nora, Elle looked over at Alex, who had on a "I told you so" face. She hugged Nora and said, "You're very welcome, honey. I love you."_

"_Lub you too, Elle."_

* * *

"_I'm so glad we're actually doing this. We always planned to have a picnic out here but something always seemed to come up." Nora stared straight ahead, keeping a closer eye on Nora._

_Once again Alex adjusted Joshua to ease the stiffness and pain on his arms. "Me too. Mostly because I'm starving._

_The two shared a long needed laugh._

"_Yeah you do have four stomachs."_

"_Well in my defense I need to be big and strong for when I go into the military. I'm gonna be the strongest soldier ever!" After a while, Alex grew concerned when Elle didn't respond with as much enthusiasm as he. Oh great, they were going to have this argument, _again. _Making an irritated grunt, Alex began, "Elle, you know that this is what I need to do."_

"_No! We're both eleven. You don't know what you want yet, much less know what you _need _to do." As much as Alex hated to admit it, Elle was wise beyond her years. "You just want to be a soldier to please your parents."_

"_Yeah, I do. And when I'm a soldier, they'll…" Alex drifted off. This happened earlier today. He's told this to Elle so many times but she didn't seem to understand. Would she ever understand? "I want them to love me just like how I love Josh. And I know that'll be infinite. I loved him when he was first born and will continue to love him until the day I die. That's how it should be for every parent, but I guess mine are an exception."_

_The two pre-teens glanced at one another- no words were needed to speak. They usually had quite a lot of these moments. Elle was too stubborn to listen because she never wanted Alex to leave but Alex was too into pleasing his parents that he would push Elle's feelings aside. Their gazes spoke for them… but would the other understand? Elle began to wish she could tell him her darkest secret, that she fell in-_

_The silence was broken when baby Joshua began to yawn and whine. Uh-oh, their yelling must have caused Joshua to awake early from one of his many naps. While Alex was cooing at Joshua, Nora jumped up and down shouting, "We here! We here!" The two looked at each other, then at Nora. Oh, so they did arrive at the island. Neither of them noticed walking over the bridge; their connection as friends was that strong…_

* * *

_The food, plates and silverware were almost ready. It was time to eat!_

"_You carry this dish, I'll carry this one." Elle handed him the plate with the potato salad as she held the sloppy joes plate. Before they could attend to their hungry younger siblings, they had some unexpected guests._

"_Whoa, Elle! Look! It's a deer… and another one! Two of them! This is so cool!" Alex exclaimed, clearly in awe._

_The two deer came in close, despite having none to rare human contact. Maybe it was easier for the animals to approach people so smaller than they. They went toward the table, where the smaller children were sitting (well, Nora was sitting up, Joshua was sleeping and sitting, resting his head on the table)._

"_Oh no! They're gonna eat Josh and Nora! Alex!" Elle shot Alex a terrifying look, then back to the children. "We need to do something!"_

_Looking at the food, then at the deer, back at the food… Without a second thought, Alex ran up to the deer, showing them the plate of food right up to their faces. "Are ya hungry? Come get it!" The deer seemed to respond well. Alex backed up, making sure to get away from the picnic table and the children. "Come get it! C'mon… Elle, show them your food. They're interested." Without asking why, Elle held her plate out too, frozen in fear as Alex and the deer came closer._

_The deer pushed Alex and Elle to the edge of the island when they all got dangerously close to each other. Both were speechless as the deer approached. One deer sniffed and backed away, not interested in the food anymore. The other sniffed, and just glanced at the two scared kids. It charged. Luckily, they got out of the way just in time. Unfortunately, being too scared to look where they were going, both Alex and Elle lost their balance, tripped and fell into the pond. It was then that both deer ran away._

"_Oh man! This totally sucks! And I just showered too!" was Alex's first words as he came up to the surface. He just _hated _getting wet. He looked around until Elle bobbed up too._

_She followed closely behind him. "Eww… I feel slimey!"_

_Suddenly, bursts of laughter ensued. The duo turned back toward the island to see Nora and Joshua sitting at the table, unharmed and laughing as Nora yelled out, "Elle-fishy! Alex-fishy!"_

* * *

_The two soaked kids sat across their sibling counterparts, letting the rays of the sun dry them up. Elle was suffering because the food was ruined (she was hungry, poor thing) as Alex searched his backpack. Bingo! Putting the found item on top of everything in his backpack, Alex ran back to the shore and picked up the plates._

"_Alex! Eww! What are you doing with those? _Please _don't eat them." Elle was even more confused when he handed her the plate she was originally holding._

"_Elle, stand by Nora," Alex said, grabbing the camera from his backpack. He positioned everyone, with the tots sitting at the table and their older counterparts behind them. He made sure that everyone would get in the picture. "Now this has a timer, I think," he muttered as he fooled around with it. After pushing a button, he placed the camera on the opposite side of the table and quickly stood next to Elle, holding his plate so that it was in the shot as well. "Elle, hold yours like this and… smile!"_

_The camera flashed, showing an excited Nora, a sleepy Joshua, the wet duo Alex and Elle smiling and the two plates of food merged together with dirt and grass, all in one perfect picture._

* * *

"Oh, if Josh were here, he'd love this…" Alex then looked over at the two children. "And he would have loved you both too."

"Daddy, daddy, daddy! Can we go to the secret place in Shepherd's Glen?" the first one piped up.

"Yeah! I wanna have a picnic there too! All four of us! Please, daddy?"

Alex laughed and gave a long sigh followed by a smile. "I don't know if it's there anymore, but I'll have to ask Mommy. I'm sure she'll say yes." After hearing the kids cheer, he said, "Now go in the kitchen. I'll be right there to make you guys sandwiches." Once the kids ran out of the room, Alex put the photo back in the album, closed it and walked over to the shelf and picked up a frame with Elle's picture in it.

"Where ever you are, I hope you're happy. I miss you terribly; then again you never really left us.

Let's go back to where it all began."


End file.
